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People of ancient Italy. The Sabines occupied an area to the north-east of Rome along the eastern side of the *Tiber valley and extending to the *Apennine uplands. Their main centres in the Tiber ...
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People of ancient Italy. The Sabines occupied an area to the north-east of Rome along the eastern side of the *Tiber valley and extending to the *Apennine uplands. Their main centres in the Tiber valley were Cures, Eretum, and Trebula Mutuesca, and in the central Apennines *Reate, Amiternum, and Nursia. Tradition maintained that the Sabines were the ancestors of all the ‘Sabellian’ peoples (see sabelli), including the Picentines and Samnites, who migrated from the Sabine heartland in a series of sacred springs (see ver sacrum). They also play an important part in the legends of early Rome. The rape of the Sabine women, and the subsequent war and reconciliation, leading to the integration of the Sabines into the community under the joint rule of *Romulus and Titus *Tatius are central elements in the story of how the city of Rome was formed.

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